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Daily News Simplified - DNS

08 05 20 Notes

SL. NO. TOPICS

THE HINDUPAGE NO.

1 Water wisdom during a pandemic – Article 07

2 Toxic disaster – Editorial 06

3 ICMR Contributes to Genome Database 11

4 Band-like clouds seen over Sun’s neighbour 16

5 Conducting elections during a pandemic – Lead Article 06

Dated: 08-May-2020 DNS Notes

Title 1. Water wisdom during a pandemic – Article (The Hindu – Pg. 07) Syllabus Prelims: Environment

Mains: GS Paper III – Environment Theme Impact of climate change on water systems Highlights Context:

The choice of theme for the event this year, “Water and Climate Change” reflected the desire of policymakers to address the impact of climate change on the water sector.

Water is the primary medium through which climate change impacts trickle down to the community and individual levels, primarily through reduced predictability of water -availability.

Let’s look at how Climate change is impacting Water systems

Sea level: The mean sea level has been continuously rising since past two decades

Warming Oceans: The ocean does an excellent job of absorbing excess heat from the atmosphere. The top few meters of the ocean stores as much heat as Earth's entire atmosphere. So, as the planet warms, it's the ocean that gets most of the extra energy.

Shrinking of Cryosphere:

Shrinking of Ice sheets:

The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have decreased in mass.


Frost-free Season (and Growing Season) will Lengthen

The length of the frost-free season (and the corresponding growing season) has been increasing since the 1980s.

Glacial retreat

Glaciers are retreating almost everywhere around the world — including in the Alps, Himalayas, Andes, Rockies, Alaska and Africa.

Decreased snow cover

Satellite observations reveal that the amount of spring snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere has decreased over the past five decades and that the snow is melting earlier.

Ocean Acidification:

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the acidity of surface ocean waters has increased by about 30 percent.

This increase is the result of humans emitting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and hence more being absorbed into the oceans. The amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by the upper layer of the oceans is increasing by about 2 billion tons per year.


So we are in need for real mitigation strategies

Although is taking few actions related to management of water in changing climate scenario but that is not enough. For Example

o Water resources planning must be given due consideration while dealing with climate impacts.

o As tanks and ponds can store and recharge the excess rainwater to the aquifer, their rejuvenation (desilting) facilitates flood and drought management.

o We need to revisit our rich tradition and culture of water wisdom in water resources management.

And hence o More public awareness on the need for climate-resilient actions,

including protecting carbon sinks like oceans, wetlands, peatlands, and mangroves, adopting climate-sart agricultural techniques, rainwater harvesting, waste-water reuse, and judicious use of water, should be generated and inculcated in each citizen

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Title 2. Toxic disaster – Editorial (The Hindu Pg. No. 6)Syllabus Prelims: Disaster Management

Mains: GS Paper III - Disaster Management Theme Vishakhapatnam Plant DisasterHighlights Context: In a grim reminder of Bhopal Gas Tragedy of 1984, Styrene gas was


released in Vishakhapatnam Plant of LG Chemicals. 11 People have lost their life and more than 350 are hospitalized.

What is Styrene Gas?• It is a flammable liquid that is used in the manufacturing of polystyrene plastics, fiberglass, rubber, and latex.• Styrene is also found in vehicle exhaust, cigarette smoke, and in natural foods like fruits and vegetables.

What happens when exposed to styrene?• Short-term exposure to the substance can result in respiratory problems, irritation in the eyes, irritation in the mucous membrane, and gastrointestinal issues.• Long-term exposure could drastically affect the central nervous system and lead to other related problems like peripheral neuropathy.It could also lead to cancer and depression in some cases.

Personal Notes

Title 3. ICMR Contributes to Genome Database (Page number 11) Syllabus Prelims: General Science

Mains: GS Paper III – Science & Technology Theme About DNS, Genome & DNA SequencingHighlights

Context: The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has submitted as many as 53 genome sequences of the novel coronavirus to a global genome database, a move that may help in better understanding the virus and developing a vaccine. Genome Database.

What is DNA?Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the chemical compound that contains the instructions needed to develop and direct the activities of nearly all living organisms. DNA molecules are made of two twisting, paired strands, often referred to as a double helix


Each DNA strand is made of four chemical units, called nucleotide bases, which comprise the genetic "alphabet." The bases are adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G), and cytosine (C). Bases on opposite strands pair specifically: an A always pairs with a T; a C always pairs with a G. The order of the As, Ts, Cs and Gs determines the meaning of the information encoded in that part of the DNA molecule just as the order of letters determines the meaning of a word.

What is a genome?An organism's complete set of DNA is called its genome. Virtually every single cell in the body contains a complete copy of the approximately 3 billion DNA base pairs, or letters, that make up the human genome.

With its four-letter language, DNA contains the information needed to build the entire human body. A gene traditionally refers to the unit of DNA that carries the instructions for making a specific protein or set of proteins. Each of the estimated 20,000 to 25,000 genes in the human genome codes for an average of three proteins.

Located on 23 pairs of chromosomes packed into the nucleus of a human cell, genes direct the production of proteins with the assistance of enzymes and messenger molecules. Specifically, an enzyme copies the information in a gene's DNA into a molecule called messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA). The mRNA travels out of the nucleus and into the cell's cytoplasm, where the mRNA is read by a tiny molecular machine called a ribosome, and the information is used to link together small molecules called amino acids in the right order to form a specific protein.

Proteins make up body structures like organs and tissue, as well as control chemical reactions and carry signals between cells. If a cell's DNA is mutated, an abnormal protein may be produced, which can disrupt the body's usual processes and lead to a disease such as cancer.

What is DNA sequencing?Sequencing simply means determining the exact order of the bases in a strand of DNA. Because bases exist as pairs, and the identity of one of the bases in the pair determines the other member of the pair, researchers do not have to report both bases of the pair.

In the most common type of sequencing used today, called sequencing by synthesis, DNA polymerase (the enzyme in cells that synthesizes DNA) is used to generate a new strand of DNA from a strand of interest. In the sequencing reaction, the enzyme incorporates into the new DNA strand individual nucleotides that have been chemically tagged with a fluorescent label. As this happens, the nucleotide is excited by a light source, and a fluorescent signal is emitted and detected. The signal is different depending on which of the four nucleotides was incorporated. This method can generate 'reads' of 125 nucleotides in a row and billions of reads at a time.

To assemble the sequence of all the bases in a large piece of DNA such as a gene, researchers need to read the sequence of overlapping segments. This allows the longer sequence to be assembled from shorter pieces, somewhat like putting together a linear jigsaw puzzle. In this process, each base has to be read not just once, but at least several times in the overlapping segments to ensure accuracy.

Researchers can use DNA sequencing to search for genetic variations and/or mutations that may play a role in the development or progression of a disease. The disease-causing change may be as small as the substitution, deletion, or addition of a single base pair or as large as a deletion of thousands of bases.


Personal Notes

Title 4. Band-like clouds seen over Sun’s neighbour (The Hindu Pg. No. 16)Syllabus Prelims: General Science

Mains: GS Paper III – Science & Technology Theme Brown Dwarf & Binary Star Highlights

Context: A group of international astrophysicists have identified cloud bands on the surface of Luhman 16A, one of a pair of binary brown dwarfs in the Vela constellation. They have used an idea put forth nearly two decades ago by Indian astrophysicist Sujan Sengupta, who is at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru, that the light emitted by a cloudy brown dwarf, or reflected off an extrasolar planet, will be polarised. He suggested that a polarimetric technique could serve as a potential tool to probe the environment of these objects.

What is brown Dwarf?• Brown Dwarfs are objects which have size between that of a giant planet like Jupiter and that of a small Star• 15 times the mass of Jupiter to 75 times the mass of JupiterWhat is binary Star?• Binary stars are two stars orbiting a common center of mass. The brighter star is officially classified as the primary star, while the dimmer of the two is the secondary (classified as A and B respectively).Types• Wide binaries are stars that have orbits that keep them spread apart from one another. These stars evolve separately, with very little impact from their companions.


• Close binaries, on the other hand, evolve nearby, able to transfer their mass from one to the other.

News in detail • A team of astronomers has discovered that the closest known brown dwarf, Luhman 16A• Luhman 16A is part of a binary system containing a second brown dwarf, Luhman 16B. • Luhman 16B shows no sign of stationary cloud bands, instead of exhibiting evidence of more irregular, patchy clouds. Luhman 16B, therefore, has noticeable brightness variations as a result of its cloudy features, unlike Luhman 16A.• By measuring the preferred polarisation of light from a distant system, astronomers can deduce the presence of clouds without directly resolving either brown dwarf's cloud structure.• NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope would be able to study systems like Luhman 16 to look for signs of brightness variations in infrared light that are indicative of cloud features.NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) will be equipped with a coronagraph instrument that can conduct polarimetry and may be able to detect giant exoplanets in reflected light and eventual signs of clouds in their atmospheres.

Personal Notes

Title 5. Conducting elections during a pandemic (Page number 6) Syllabus Prelims: Polity & Governance

Mains: GS Paper II - Polity & Governance Theme Election for MLC in Maharashtra Highlights

Context: A unique situation has arisen due to Covid-19 Pandemic situation. To become an executive (CoM) it is not required to be a legislator but you have a grace period of only 6 months before which you need to be elected to either Legislative Assembly or Legislative Council. Now that 6 months period for Maharashtra CM is about to get over in between this lockdown which made it really difficult to conduct elections.

So because of this article, provisions regarding LC become important likeo Creation and abolition procedures o States having the second chambero Manner of election of memberso Composition of LC (as it is not straight forward)o Their powers with respect to legislations.

Finally from the perspective of mains examination it is also important to delve into the utlity of these councils.

What are the Legislative Councils, and why are they important?India has a bicameral system i.e., two Houses of Parliament. At the state level, the equivalent of the Lok Sabha is the Vidhan Sabha or Legislative Assembly; that of the Rajya Sabha is the VidhanParishad or Legislative Council. A second House of legislature is considered important for two reasons: one, to act as a check on hasty actions by the popularly elected House and, two, to ensure that individuals who might not be cut out for the rough-and-tumble of direct elections too are able to contribute to the legislative process. Opposition to the idea of Legislative Councils is centred on three broad arguments. One, they can be used to park leaders who have not been able to win an election. Two, they can be used to delay progressive legislation. Three, they would strain state finances. Opinion in the Constituent


Assembly was divided on the question of having a Legislative Council. The idea was backed on the above grounds; it was also suggested that having a second chamber would allow for more debate and sharing of work between the Houses.

So, do all states have Legislative Councils?No. Our constitution does not force a bicameral legislature on states. It gives states the option of having a second House. As of today, seven states have Legislative Councils. These are Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The creation of a Legislative Council in Tamil Nadu has been a contentious issue in the state’s politics for the last 25 years. Under Article 169 of the constitution, Parliament may by law create or abolish the second chamber in a state if the Legislative Assembly of that state passes a resolution to that effect by a special majority. In 1986, the Tamil Nadu Assembly, with the AIADMK in majority, passed a resolution abolishing the second chamber. The DMK and AIADMK have wrestled on the issue ever since — with the last DMK attempt to restore the Legislative Council coming in 2010, when Parliament enacted the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council Act, 2010.

However, the AIADMK returned to power before the Council could be constituted, and the Assembly passed a resolution withdrawing the 2010 decision. To give effect to the Assembly’s resolution, there is a Bill pending in Parliament to repeal the law that formed the Council.

Andhra Pradesh had a Legislative Council from 1958, abolished it in 1985, and reconstituted it in 2007.

Proposals to create Legislative Councils in Rajasthan and Assam are pending in Parliament. In 2010, MLAs in Assam unanimously passed a resolution for the creation of a Council. Rajasthan MLAs passed a similar resolution in 2012. The Standing Committee examining these Bills endorsed the creation of Upper Houses in both states. It also recommended that the central government evolve a national policy for the creation of second chambers in state legislatures.

How are members of the Council elected?

Membership may vary, but the Legislative Council must not have more than a third of the total membership of the Assembly of that state, and in no case fewer than 40 members. (The exception is J&K, where the Legislative Council has 36 members vide Section 50 of the constitution of the state.)About 1/3rd of members are elected by members of the Assembly, another 1/3rd by electorates consisting of members of municipalities, district boards and other local authorities in the state, 1/12th by an electorate consisting of teachers, and 1/12th by registered graduates. The remaining members are nominated by the Governor from among those who have distinguished themselves in literature, science, art, the cooperative movement, and social service. Legislative Councils are permanent Houses, and like Rajya Sabha, one-third of their members retire every two years.

Do Rajya Sabha and Vidhan Parishads have similar powers?Not really. The constitution gives Councils limited legislative powers. Unlike Rajya Sabha which has substantial powers to shape non-financial legislation, Legislative Councils lack the constitutional mandate to do so. Legislative Assemblies have the power to override suggestions/amendments made to legislation by the Council.Also, while Rajya Sabha MPs can vote in the election of the President and Vice-President, members of Legislative Councils can’t. MLCs also can’t vote in the elections of Rajya Sabha members.


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